


Those That Were Left Behind

by Sans_Souci



Series: Dating in the Time of World-ending Disasters [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Death, F/M, It's depressing, M/M, Missing in Action, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), not really spoilers but, spoilers for movies, you can ignore this part
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 07:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18384209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sans_Souci/pseuds/Sans_Souci
Summary: It was Sunday afternoon when The Event happened.





	Those That Were Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> A What-If type story if I really believed that Infinity War would have any lasting consequences in the MCU (asides from actor’s contracts ending etc).
> 
> I had to get this out of the way first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When alien spaceships landed in New York (again), Ned had thought that it really was the end. Yeah, the end for real this time. The end of the world as they knew it. The alien invasion to end all alien invasions.

Because deep down inside, Ned knew that their luck could not hold out for that long. Three invasions were a lot. Like the calculated odds of aliens always targeting New York were astronomically low, but apparently no-one told the aliens that?

At least the spaceship design was interesting, right?

But then Peter had swung out to do his Spider-Man thing, so Ned knew it would be okay in the end. The Avengers would do their thing. The bad guys would get a beat-down. New York would take another pounding, but they would recover.

Like they had the other times. They had survived the Hulk plus some other weird creature in Harlem. They had survived the First Invasion of New York. The Second Invasion of New York had been shorter--someone had timed it. The Third Invasion of New York had been somewhat predictable--the Avengers allegedly got on it and the spaceship vamoosed.

. . . Only this time, Peter hadn’t come back afterwards.

Ned would have said that he had a bad feeling about it but this was too serious to do Star Wars quips.

May Parker had nearly blown up his phone after the ship took off with frantic calls about Peter’s last likely location. Because Aunt May knew her nephew and her nephew was kind of a dumbass sometimes. Make that a lot of the time.

Ned didn’t want to say it. But he knew, and May knew, that there was a really, really (astronomically) high chance that Peter Parker had been on that giant ring-shaped spaceship as it had blasted off into space.

Hours passed and Ned was forced to admit that Peter Parker had definitely been on that doughnut-shaped spaceship.

His idiotic self-sacrificing probably-maybe boyfriend had just left the solar system. Ned could not wait until Peter dragged his sorry ass home, because he would definitely give him a piece of his mind--once after May Parker was done chewing him out.

He even had a list. Yeah, Ned had made a list. He texted it to MJ, because this relationship was a democracy and their probably-maybe girlfriend deserved to know how mad he was at their definitely-not-here boyfriend. (And himself because should not have given Peter that opportunity to slip off.)

_Ned: I’m going to do it this time_

_Ned: I’m really going to do it this time_

_MJ: Lookit you_

_MJ: All snarly and raaghh_

And he knew that MJ was worried too, so he was working extra hard to hang onto that desperate hope that Peter would be coming back.

_Ned: No cake until he says he’s sorry for not thinking before jumping on an alien spaceship_

_MJ: No nookie either_

_Ned: Yeah that too_

_MJ: I’ll hold your coat_

_MJ: Keep your coat on_

_MJ: No nookie from either of us_

Truth be told, Peter would probably get it worse from MJ and his aunt. But at the end of it all, they would have given anything for Peter to walk back into the apartment the next day. He might be a bit bruised and kinda sheepish about his role in saving the world, but he’d be _safe_.

The next day dawned and Peter was still not home. And not just not in New York. Not on Earth. Not in this solar system even.

School was cancelled for the rest of the week as the city was still in a state of emergency (plus a lot of traffic was still not moving due to damage from inconsiderate alien spaceships landing in the city), so Ned only saw MJ’s haggard face over the webcam when they set up the chat with May Parker. 

Mrs Parker looked like she aged ten years over-night. But here they were, the only three souls in New York that knew that Peter Parker was also missing along with Tony Stark.

They double-checked. No reply. No _already read_ check marks. They couldn’t even link to SpideySync.

May Parker had to do the responsible thing and report Peter’s absence on the second day. 

_Peter B. Parker, last seen on school field trip. Whereabouts unknown._

Only Ned and MJ knew how awful Peter’s aunt had felt when Principal Morita turned up in person to apologise for losing her nephew.

Because it certainly wasn’t the school’s fault that Peter had run off to chase aliens or whatever.

May also felt like a colossal fraud when the police called and asked if she would come down to the morgue to check if any of the bodies recovered from the rubble was her nephew. But she had gone, with all the other grey-faced relatives to identify the bodies.

No, her nephew was not amongst the bodies that were going to be listed as the first casualties of the Third Invasion of New York. And then she had to get out of the morgue because the stench of old blood and overwhelming grief was too much.

_Death by being at the wrong place at the wrong time._

And then it got worse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MJ remembered that it was Sunday when The Event happened. In the middle of making a list of things that Peter Parker had to answer for, including making her worry for _days_.

It was so sudden. No portents. No warnings. 

Except that Peter had been missing for almost three days and there was an alien invasion in Wakanda according to the emergency news bulletin. Looked like the same ones from the Third Invasion of New York.

That was what most people had been tuning into when The Event occurred.

Like a lot of other people, MJ was only aware that something was wrong when the screaming started.

Her first thought was to check on Kendra and Mike, home now that there was no school or classes.

“What’s happening?” Kendra asked, clutching her favourite stuffed plush lion and peering out of her room.

“I dunno--I’ll check,” MJ muttered, feeling less confident by the second as she stuck her head out of the apartment door. Her parents had gone out for supplies an hour ago because school might still be suspended for a few days more. MJ really wanted her parents to be there at the moment.

There was chaos out in the corridor. People were sticking their heads out of their homes. Mrs Chen from 15G was screaming something but as MJ did not understand Cantonese, she was at a loss as to what it was about. Kate Allenson from 15D was yelling her daughter’s name. James Pham from 15A was trying to be calm while standing in the doorway, but no five-year old kid could be calm when they were asking about their parents while sirens were going off in the distance.

MJ hesitated then. Her stomach felt queasy and she was not sure if she should even step out. She should go get her phone and message her parents.

Because it was obvious that people were shouting about the people that were not there at the moment.

 _Where was Mike?_ A feeling like the start of a really bad cramp started to throb in her lower abdomen. (Later, much later when people tried to make sense of The Event, it was finally put down to approximately half everyone’s intestinal flora dying all at once.)

“MJ, where’s Mike?” Kendra asked from behind her. “Are Mom and Dad gonna be back soon?”

MJ had no answers, but she was saved from stammering up some excuse by the elevator door opening. Her brother Mike barrelled out with Kevin Chen hot on his heels.

_Oh, so he had been on a bodega run after all._

MJ’s relief was cut short when Mike and Kevin started telling everyone to stay indoors. 

“It’s crazy out there! People just vanished--”

“One second we were at the counter and then--”

The crowd out in the corridor was not as large as it could have been despite the fact that it was Sunday and a lot of people in the service industry had been told not to come into work. (MJ only understood why later.) But in between the near hysterics and the desperate queries, it was apparent that something bad had occurred.

People had disappeared. Just crumbled away into dust. It was probably the aliens.

There just wasn’t time to process all of this. Whatever _this_ was.

Mike managed to get clear of the crowd and the relief on his face when he saw Kendra behind MJ was both gratifying and terrible at the same time.

“You’re back--” And he was promptly smothered by two clingy younger sisters that were obviously scared. Down the corridor, Kevin was probably being scolded by his mother for making her worry.

It was almost normal for a second. People remembered that their phones existed and started texting or calling, resulting in the record for most cellular network usage. (It could have been higher but for the most obvious reason.) Then everyone turned on their televisions to try to make sense of everything because surely someone would know what was going on.

Half the channels showed static and the other half were scenes of chaos. Shaken news reporters talked about runaway cars and buses without drivers. People were told to stay home. There was probably going to be martial law declared.

MJ retreated back behind her hair as her siblings gathered on the couch. There had been no response from their parents. Mike was going on about how some of the cell towers might have been knocked out. There had been a number of helicopter crashes over the city after all.

It was all very well-meaning but MJ had their own doubts. As if their parents would not have found some way to contact them after all that. But she did not say anything because Kendra was right there.

The walls were thin enough that they could hear the sobbing as they waited for their phones to ping or ring. Even with traffic completely backed up, the networks were still working in some areas.

Their parents were supposed to be back from Target by now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It happened on a Sunday. Ned would always remember that somehow.

He had been playing video games with Ernie that afternoon because there was nothing else to do. (Other than worry about Peter and how he should have stopped him.) The online assignments that the teachers prepared for situations like this had run their course. (Even knowing about alien invasions was not enough to prepare the education system for things like this.) If school did not start on Monday because there was still too much damage to the city’s infrastructure, they would probably get more e-assignments.

Daphne was back home from her dorm and Darlene was bugging them on the phone because the rest of the family was bugging her. Apparently their relatives in other states thought that the end of the world was neigh. Or something.

The New York branch of the family was getting a reputation for blahness in the face of alien invasions. Daphne would have argued that it was more of a New York thing if she was even inclined to engage. Ned followed her good example and kept his head down.

Until the sound of yelling and sirens suddenly cut through the sound system and they had to pause. Ned poked his head into Daphne’s room, wanting to ask if she knew what was going on.

But she wasn’t in her room. There was no-one in the communal bathroom either.

His mom’s job as day manager at a midtown hotel kept her out late, even on Sundays. Ned was going to find his phone when his Dad poked his head out of his bedroom.

“Something’s happening--my phone’s blowing up. It’s gotta do with that invasion in Wakanda,” his Dad said. “Go get your brother and sister.”

“Daphne’s not in her room, I checked,” Ned called over his shoulder as he headed back to the living room. There had been an invasion in Wakanda? MJ was so going to rag on him for not paying attention to the news--

Their controllers sat in front of the paused game of Mario Kart where they had placed them, but Ernie was not on the sofa. He wasn’t in the kitchen getting a snack. Ned knew a sudden jolt of fear as he turned back to peer into the communal bathroom even though he knew that he had just checked it.

“Ernie? Daph? This isn’t funny,” he tried to say as calmly as he could. The wardrobe in Ernie’s room was open--no little brothers in there. Daphne’s closet was still chock full of boxes of high school notes, files art supplies and her spare easel.

There was nowhere to hide his two siblings.

“Hey, I tried calling your mom,” his Dad said, emerging fully dressed with his phone and car keys in hand. “Cell phone networks seem jammed--”

“Dad . . .” Ned found it hard to swallow around the lump in his throat. His phone was buzzing somewhere in his room—he could hear it. “They’re not here.”

It took two circuits around the apartment for his Dad to give up on the idea that Ernie and Daphne were not kidding around. Ned just stared at Daphne’s phone with a quiet sense of dread--it was vibrating on her desk with the force of all those unanswered calls.

Ned fetched his own phone and managed to answer his Auntie Roberta’s call. _Yes, he was all right. His Dad was there. They were trying to find Daphne and Ernie. No, Mom had not called back . . ._

Through the verbal torrent, Ned gathered that some of his cousins had gone missing.

 _Was this some crazy alien thing?_

Ned stammered that he could not be sure and that he had to take the incoming call from Grandma. His stomach hurt. This could not be happening now . . .

Grandma’s voice on the other end grounded him somewhat. Yes, there were still adults around. He was not totally alone. Listening to the litany of semi-prayers and questions from his Grandma, Ned managed to assure her that he was with Dad but they were not sure about the location of the others. He would definitely call back once he had a better idea of what was going on. Yes, it was probably aliens . . .

Staggering over to the window, Ned looked outside his room window and saw that the streets were deadlocked. Cars and vans were stopped on the road up and down the block. At the intersection, a pile-up looked like it had formed up behind a serious accident involving a motorcycle and a truck. People were running around in a way that spoke volumes about how bad the situation was. And it looked like there were fewer people than there usually were outside on a Sunday afternoon.

Feeling more than just a little sick, Ned turned back to see his Dad staring over his shoulder. There would be no using the car then.

“Mom--”

“She’s not replying.” Ned had never heard his Dad sound so lost.

His own phone, clutched in his hand, was still buzzing. More missed calls and messages from both sides of the family. Correction, calls and messages from only _some_ of both sides of the family.

All about the same thing. People were vanishing.

He should check in . . . They all should just reply to the calls and messages and make a count--

A count of who was left.

His Dad had opened the front door and was calling for Ernie and Daphne over the din outside. Ned followed him numbly. They had to do something. Try to search the building at least . . . 

They had to hope.

(But Ned knew that their luck had finally run out.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May Parker was in the middle of being consoled by Lisa Sellers when The Event happened. They all said she should stay at home. HR was very understanding about these things.

But the hospital was packed in the wake of the Third Invasion of New York and May always liked to be active. 

It took her mind off whatever Peter was doing wherever he was right now. Because he wasn’t gone. Her gut told her that he was still out there, being stupidly heroic.

She told herself that consistently as she filed patient records and fielded questions from anxious relatives on that fateful Sunday.

Lisa had found her staring at the microwave in the staff pantry with nothing in it that afternoon. She was in the middle of saying that May should just go back and _they got this really_ when The Event happened.

It was one thing to know that your nephew was missing due to his overdeveloped sense of responsibility and heroism. It was another thing to watch as your co-worker disintegrated into dust right in front of you.

In the background, people were yelling. May could only stare at the shattered pieces of Lisa’s mug on the ground. Dust motes hung in the air and May stopped breathing for almost half a minute as she realised that that was all that was left of--

She had to turn away. Stumbling out of the pantry, she took a huge gulp of air. Then saw that the rest of her department was either screaming or stumbling for the doors.

Around half of the department. One of the PA’s was crouched in the corner mumbling about dust.

May felt the urge to be sick. This was an enclosed space. Whatever that dust was, it was swirling around them and getting sucked into the ventilation system--

Clamping down on her rising hysteria, May tried to help the PA in the corner up. She was saying something, goodness knows what, but she managed to get the guy up and they joined the others clustered around someone’s computer.

The news had been going on about the aliens in Wakanda but the scrolling text under the footage was suddenly announcing that they should not panic. 

A nurse ran in a moment later, not very coherent but they got the gist of her breathless message. Patients were missing. Doctors were missing. Nurses were not at their stations. People were asking questions--demanding answers that the hospital could not answer.

It was then that Nancy Clements, senior nurse, bustled up. Grim-faced, she collared her subordinate and told her to go back to her post.

“We’re going to buckle down for now,” Clements said loudly. May had to admire her sheer control in the current situation. “Prepare for the worst.”

From the accidents that were happening all over the city. Clements was predicting a crush in the ER.

“Anyone know any first aid? Any help would be most appreciated,” Clements continued, looking around the patient accounts department levelly. “Otherwise, you better call home. It’s gonna be a long day.” 

Because they were survivors of three alien invasions, the majority of them knew what to expect. The remaining subway lines would stop functioning (again). The streets would be full of stalled vehicles. Some places would lose power and water. It would be safer in the hospital than on the streets at the moment.

But a lot of them were parents or had dependents at home. Against the increasing volume of anxious voices in the office, May felt herself withdraw inward. She got a grip on herself and shook herself mentally. This was not helping.

_Do what you can . . ._

She mechanically checked her messages and tried to call her relatives in other states. Apparently this was not just a New York Problem anymore. She called her friends from the local community centre and her neighbours. She messaged MJ, Ned and their parents before trudging down to the ER in a daze to lend whatever help she could. 

Half way there, her gut finally rebelled. She wasn’t the only one. Most of the people around her looked like they were just as uncomfortable. There was a rush for the bathrooms around that time.

Leaning against the cool wall near the stairwell, May felt a chill right through her bones as despair rose like a fog around her. The hospital, not the most cheery of places, was suffused with even more grief than usual.

She knew then. Knew it despite the fact that her nephew was light years away in a different solar system.

May knew then that Peter was really gone. No matter what they said about the intestinal bacteria later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MJ had not slept in twenty four hours. Neither had Mike, though he had dozed off for a few fitful hours in the night.

She jumped every time one of their phones pinged that evening. Grandma Jones in Harlem checked in. Mike’s half-brother checked in. Ned, a few kids from school and Peter’s aunt had texted her in the hour after The Event. 

_MJ: Kendra and Mike are with me_

_MJ: I’m with my brother and sister_

She could not bring herself to type more than that. 

Two hours in and a knock at the door had shocked them all and MJ had almost fallen off the sofa. It was Mr Ayabeh from next door. He was just checking in on them. Which was appreciated because they knew from the haunted look in his eyes that Mrs Ayabeh had not returned from work yet.

It took all MJ had to reply in a manner that would not induce more panic. Because everyone was more than just a little on edge. Apparently James Pham’s parents were missing too, so he was staying with Mr Ayabeh for the time being.

 _The time being what exactly?_ MJ mused darkly before quashing that uncharitable thought.

When the sun had set, Mike said that they should make dinner. Because Kendra was depending on them to keep things normal. Until their parents got back.

It was a mantra they would repeat continuously.

Despite the lack of appetite, they made sandwiches and hunkered down to eat in front of the TV and their three fully-charged phones.

The news told them to conserve energy, so they switched off all the lights. It was early summer, so they did not need much beyond the fridge and their mobile phones.

The news also told them to check in on their relatives and friends frequently. Because some people were not coping with the aftermath of The Event. There was a curfew. Which was not doing much to stop the rush for supplies once the initial shock had worn off. Again, it could have been much, much worse except for the fact that too many people were in shock from what had happened. (And that other reason.)

MJ and Kendra were definitely not letting Mike out of their sight. Emergency scenario or not, Mike was still a six foot one black man and the very thought of losing him to trigger-happy paranoid types was not an option right now.

The government was trying to keep it together as they managed the delicate task of keeping channels open and hoping that no-one with itchy trigger fingers had access to the nuclear launch codes. Because they were still trying to account of those that were missing amongst world leaders.

 _Missing_ , not dead despite eye-witness accounts of people crumbling to dust. There was actual footage of people disappearing during speeches and protests. Mobile uploads of videos on YouTube by tens of thousands people scared people looking for answers.

In the end, the numbers did not matter. A small voice in MJ’s head told her that it would not matter. Because James Pham’s parents were not coming back. Mrs Ayabeh was not coming back. MJ’s parents were not coming back.

In the early hours of the morning, MJ finally came to terms with that. She spent almost an hour crouched in the bathroom sobbing her eyes out into the towels so that Kendra and Mike would not hear.

After that, it was easier to let the numbness set in.

The power went out for around six hours in the early morning. Mike took a turn at watching the ground floor as a grim group of older adults made a foray outside for supplies. Baby formula was in short supply and they would need more food if the curfew was going to continue.

No-one was saying the obvious--this was the worst emergency ever. The Event had been _global_.

Kendra was not speaking and MJ had to guide her to get changed for breakfast.

They had cold cereal with the last of the milk sitting on the stairs to the lobby because MJ did not want to lose sight of Mike.

MJ had not slept in twenty-nine hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Ned: Are you still awake?_

_MJ: Y_

_Ned: You need to get some rest_

_MJ: Cant_

Ned ran his hands through his hair for the _nth_ time in the same hour. He had slept poorly, waking up at every siren and that one helicopter that flew past in the early hours of the morning. Running to check that his Dad was still in the next room also contributed to a lot of it.

Dad had thought of getting a bike and cycling to Manhattan to find Mom. Ned had tried to be reasonable. His grandmother had finally yelled some sense into his Dad through the phone and they had called the hotel instead. The person that answered sounded just as bad as they felt.

_No, Mrs Leeds was not here. She had been in as usual but she was not here._

The guy’s apologies were real. He sounded like he was close to sobbing. His Dad thanked the guy as quickly as he could before he disconnected the call and hugged Ned close.

Ned had never seen his Dad cry like this before. Joseph Leeds was a fairly demonstrative man and he had cried at _Finding Nemo_. But not like this.

Of course, Ned could not say anything because he was bawling like a baby into his Dad’s shirt. 

Because there was nothing they could do. It had been too sudden and they were essentially helpless. Bereft of any avenue of action. Because the aliens that had supposedly caused all of this were on another continent. Shock was too quickly replaced by grief.

Ned could read his Dad’s thoughts as though they were printed on a billboard over his head. _They’re gone, they’re gone, they’re gone . . ._

Dehydration set in and they had to move to answer the knocking at their door. The remaining adults in the building managed to pull together to do _something_. 

Even if that something was just setting up shifts of watchers down in the lobby and making a list of those that were still unaccounted for.

But it was still something to do.

Outside, the streets were silent. Except for the odd individual running down the road screaming and sobbing at the same time.

Ned had counted six people yelling at the walls to repent. Eleven gun shots in the distance. Too many sirens to count.

They observed the curfew. Filled buckets with water. Ned texted his cousins and friends to check in on them. His mental tally of those remaining was . . . depressing.

May Parker was still at her workplace, which was both a relief and a worry because transit was going to be impossible.

MJ replied after the first hour and Ned was relieved for about three seconds.

 _Her parents were missing._

Ned made a note to check on her every two hours. Even though there was nothing he could say that would help.

It was something to do so that he would not have to think about his missing mother and siblings. Everything had taken on a slightly unreal cast as they watched the news, listened to announcements and tried not to react to certain sounds outside.

The part of Ned that was standing outside this unreality was pointing out that it was a form of denial. 

Someone down on the street was bellowing about the end of days.

Ned closed the window as the lights in the buildings opposite flickered out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


End file.
